8-story building with connection to Trade Center planned at Grand Rapids parking lot

A preliminary rendering shows how CWD envisions a potential development on a vacant lot near Van Andel Arena on the northwestern corner of Fulton Street and Ionia Avenue in downtown Grand Rapids.Courtesy CWD Real Estate/Integrated Architecture

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – After more than a year of negotiating, the city and the prospective developer of a parking lot at the corner of Fulton Street and Ionia Avenue NW are ready to proceed with a deal that could yield an 8-story building.

Grand Rapids City Commission on Jan. 22 is expected to consider a three-year option for CWD Real Estate to purchase the property adjacent to the Ottawa-Fulton parking ramp and across Fulton from Van Andel Arena. The commission’s economic development committee and parking commission were briefed this week on the deal, which prices the option at $15,000 for the first year and makes it renewable for up to two more years at a cost of $20,000 each.

“We do not have an anchor tenant for this building,” developer Sam Cummings said. “We believe very strongly that the future is very good for the city. So part of this is the ability to attract (tenants). You can’t sell something if you don’t control it.”

The city in 2011 issued a request for proposals to develop the 20,000-square-foot property that now serves as a parking lot with 17 metered spaces. CWD submitted the lone proposal.

Since then, the developer has purchased the adjacent 75,000-square-foot Trade Center at 50 Louis St. NW, and “we’ve designed some of the renovation of that building in anticipation of the potential to connect with this (new) structure,” Cummings said. Construction of the new building likely would include a connection to 50 Louis over top of an existing entry/exit to the city’s Ottawa-Fulton parking ramp, he said.

CWD also is planning to connect the 50 Louis building – and, by extension, the new building – to the city parking ramp. The city’s Historic Preservation Commission will review plans at a 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 16 meeting.

A redevelopment concept for the city parking lot shows an 8-story, 127,500-square-foot building with 6,150 square-feet of leasable ground-floor space for a restaurant/entertainment use, and Class A office space on the floors above. A connection to 50 Louis could enable prospective tenants to take up space in both the higher-rent new building and the lower-rent historic structure, Cummings said.

If a purchase proceeds, the price would be determined by an independent appraiser. In the meantime, the city will continue to operate the site as a parking lot.

Cummings said a groundbreaking might happen in mid- to late-2014 at the earliest.